Elder Stephen Chipman is currently serving in the Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Crying over Wal-mart glazed donuts

Hola Todos!

Well while you’re freezing, I’m burning up, but it’s all
good! I’ve always liked the heat more than the cold anyway, so I’m happy! As
long as the members give us juice, I’m ok.

It’s funny because Tang
is a huge thing here. They all buy little Tang packets and literally have it
all of the time. I think it’s because the water is so bad they like covering it
up, but it tastes good. I just think it is funny because before, I never really
thought of tang.

It’s been an event filled week with an apostolic visit, a
baptism in the district, and an open chapel. All of that added together means
that we really just didn’t have a lot of time to work in our area this week,
but we all feel spiritually charged and ready to go.

Elder
Russell M. Nelson of the 12 Apostles came and spoke to us on Thursday, and what
a visit that was! It made this an awesome week. His wife also addressed us, as well as Elder
Zeballos of the seventy and his wife. We all left feeling spiritually uplifted
and ready to work. Elder Nelson mentioned many things in his talk, and many
specific statements he made seemed to be specifically meant for me. We were
also able to shake his hand and meet him personally. His wife’s talk really
stood out to me. She talked of our pre-mortal life and what we did before we
were born and the promises we made too. It really changes my perspective.

With all of this, it only strengthened my testimony that
prophets and apostles are still called by God today. They lead us and help us
with our very personal challenges in life. What a blessing it is to be here
serving the Lord.

It was also a great opportunity because all 248
missionaries in our mission were able to attend and we were able to eat lunch
together. It was great seeing so many friends from literally all over the
world, be at the same place at the same time. It helped me realize how great of
a mission we have.

And to make things better, we went into Wal-Mart today and
they sell Donuts there! Like real glazed donuts! Never thought that I would cry
about food, but it happened!

As far as exciting adventures, I was able to see downtown La Plata this week. It is a beautiful city and a lot different
than Buenos Aires.
There’s a giant Cathedral in the middle that is down right stunning, and many
European style buildings. Truly a great place to be! Around town many of the
wooden posts or electric posts are painted white with either a red or blue
stripe in the middle. These indicate the
favorite soccer team in the area. There are two major soccer teams in La Plata. Estudiantes de
La Plata, and Gimnasia. Estudiantes is Red and has a lion as a mascot, and
Gimnasia is Blue with a wolf for a mascot. That’s why you will see a lot of
wolves and lions painted on the walls because they represent these two teams in
La Plata. So
the electric posts also follow this same pattern. Kinda fun don’t you think?

Thank you for all of your prayers and for all of the
support! I know the Savior lives and loves each of us. He has a plan, all we
need to do is trust him, and do what he has told us to do, and we will all be
happy in the end.